Author
Topic: s/o Food Dictators - Sleep Dictators (Read 34265 times)

There's a thread in the Family and Children folder discussing Food Dictators. A couple of us have gotten off on a sidetrack of Sleep Dictators - and how not everyone is a morning person and not everyone is a night person.....AND THAT'S OK!

I thought I'd start a new thread, so we don't keep disrupting the original.

Maybe it's just because I'm pregnant, but for the last 3 months, I have spent pretty much all of my down time sleeping. I love to sleep. I want to be in bed by 9 every night, but I'm always decent in the morning. Not so much a morning person as a well rested human being.

When my significant other first moved in, our different sleep schedules was quite a bone of contention for us. I work 8 to 5 and have to up no later than 6:30 to make it on work on time. I like to go to bed early, usually around 9:30 or so, not necessarily to go to sleep right away, but to read or watch tv and start winding down. My BF on the other hand is something of a night owl, and due to his work schedule can sleep in to 9:00 or so in the mornings. For months, he just could not understand why I wanted to go to bed so early and would get highly offended, as if I were doing it to get away from him. We would actually argue about it on a regular basis. He would make me feel guilty, so I would end up staying up later and be really irritable the next day at work. Finally one day the subject came up in front of my parents, and my mom said "Well, Ginger G has always liked going to bed early, even as a child!" I guess it finally clicked for him, and now I can go to bed when I want with no complaints from him!

I haven't read the other thread. Can someone give me some examples of what a sleep dictator does? I'm picturing my control freak relative standing in her guest bedroom door pointing a finger at me while I'm bundled up in her guest bed ordering me (yelling at me) "You must sleep 7.2 hours!", turning out the light & closing the door.

My idea of a perfect Friday evening at home is grabbing a good book, putting on my jammies by 9, reading until I fall asleep and sleeping until whatever hour on Saturday I choose to wake up.

My husband's idea of a perfect Friday evening at home is watching a good sporting event or a movie and staying up as late as he can, because it's Friday.

Theoretically, we should just declare a truce. He can watch TV and I can go to bed. But whenver I want to retire early, he gets all sad and says, "Why are you going to bed so early? Why can't you stay up with me?"

When my significant other first moved in, our different sleep schedules was quite a bone of contention for us. I work 8 to 5 and have to up no later than 6:30 to make it on work on time. I like to go to bed early, usually around 9:30 or so, not necessarily to go to sleep right away, but to read or watch tv and start winding down. My BF on the other hand is something of a night owl, and due to his work schedule can sleep in to 9:00 or so in the mornings. For months, he just could not understand why I wanted to go to bed so early and would get highly offended, as if I were doing it to get away from him. We would actually argue about it on a regular basis. He would make me feel guilty, so I would end up staying up later and be really irritable the next day at work. Finally one day the subject came up in front of my parents, and my mom said "Well, Ginger G has always liked going to bed early, even as a child!" I guess it finally clicked for him, and now I can go to bed when I want with no complaints from him!

Since I coined the phrase, I likened food to sleep, in that it's something we have to do daily, and something many people derive pleasure from, so I made the analogy that a food dictator would be like a sleep dictator; that is, someone who tell you that you WILL go to bed at this time, and wake up at this time, and you'll sleep in this room, and you'll sleep in these bedclothes, and no backtalk!

I haven't read the other thread. Can someone give me some examples of what a sleep dictator does? I'm picturing my control freak relative standing in her guest bedroom door pointing a finger at me while I'm bundled up in her guest bed ordering me (yelling at me) "You must sleep 7.2 hours!", turning out the light & closing the door.

My sleep dictator likes to sit on my chest and rub his chin on my nose and generally poke me until I give him some loving. His cute furry face and whiskers ensure that he is not thrown from the bed although I do tell him it is sleepy time and we need some sleep within a few minutes. He usually accepts that and curls up for a nap next to me. or jumps off to chase imaginary prey throughout the house.

I haven't read the other thread. Can someone give me some examples of what a sleep dictator does? I'm picturing my control freak relative standing in her guest bedroom door pointing a finger at me while I'm bundled up in her guest bed ordering me (yelling at me) "You must sleep 7.2 hours!", turning out the light & closing the door.

My sleep dictator likes to sit on my chest and rub his chin on my nose and generally poke me until I give him some loving. His cute furry face and whiskers ensure that he is not thrown from the bed although I do tell him it is sleepy time and we need some sleep within a few minutes. He usually accepts that and curls up for a nap next to me. or jumps off to chase imaginary prey throughout the house.

Thanks Wolfie. I have a sleep dictator then that I love very, very much. Much better than what I was picturing before.

Let me explain. I know many people who seem to count it as a source of pride how little they sleep. "I've only slept 3 hours in the past two days!" I have been known to respond, "Dude, that's not enought and you shouldn't be driving."

This is one of those things where I go "who cares". My family is about equal larks and night owls. When we vacation together we often divide rooms by larks and night owls instead of by couples/households. I get stuck in the middle because I stay up with the night owls - get up with the larks - and never take naps.

Many of the couples in my family are "mixed" larks and night owls. They don't seem to have a problem with it - actually seems to help with child care especially infants. The night owls take care of things at night letting the larks sleep. Larks let night owls sleep in and take care of things in the mornings.

Closest thing to a sleep dictator I get are the people on me to not drink caffeine at night "because you'll never get to sleep", actually caffeine helps me sleep. I'm mildly ADHD, and I figure the caffeine helps activate the part of my brain that calms things down.